'Mugabe won't name successor'

BULAWAYO - Controversial former leader of Chipangano, an alleged Zanu PF terror group, Jim Kunaka, has waded into the ruling party’s succession matrix, dismissing suggestions that President Robert Mugabe must name his successor.

This comes as the succession debate is heating up, with some war veterans recently calling for Mugabe to address the issue, which has caused infighting in his long ruling Zanu PF.

In an interview with South Africa-based television station, 1st TV, last week, Kunaka said the nonagenarian leader was never going to be “swayed by noise makers”.

“Those who think that they are going to succeed the president by being appointed or anointed by him are day dreaming,” Kunaka said.

“As far as I know Mugabe, he is a principled person who stands guided by the constitution of the party, which says leaders should come from the people.”

Kunaka’s reaction comes after War Veterans minister Tshinga Dube recently broke ranks saying that 93-year-old Mugabe must name his successor, as part of ensuring peace and stability in the event of him retiring or passing on.

The utterances triggered a furore, with some rival ex-liberation fighters calling for Dube’s expulsion from Zanu PF.

“At this juncture, there is no vacancy, I don’t think or see Mugabe being swayed by the noise makers (to choose a successor), it is the people who will choose the successor,” Kunaka said, adding that those who were also calling for under fire Zanu PF political commissar Saviour Kasukuwere were ill advised.

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